High Commitment Workplaces

High Commitment Workplaces

High Commitment Workplaces

Synopsis

Fink addresses, with the benefit of a Commitment Diagnostic Instrument (CDI), the immensely sensitive and important issue of commitment in the workplace. He establishes the meaning of commitment and relates the concept to the separate areas of co-workers, one's position in the organization, and to the company itself. The research-based findings are highly instructive on essential issues of management concern including employee performance, retention, intra-company relationships, and productivity. This direct, substantive, and practical work will assist managers to identify signs of employee commitment or the absence thereof. It provides methods of building and reinforcing commitment over the spectrum of workplace relationships and thereby enhances overall productivity.

Excerpt

I once was told that what people choose to study or write about always is a reflection of some inner personal struggle that has never been resolved. I am not sure that is always the case, but I do know that it has been true for me in writing this book. William Thurston, former Chief Executive Officer of Genrad Corporation, whom I interviewed in the early stages of writing the book, told me he felt that all commitment begins with commitment to oneself, to some personal mission in life. Without that, he said, one's life would be pointless. It is a pretty strong statement, but I believe it to be true. It gave me pause to think about my own mission in life and just what writing this book represented in that sense. What I concluded is that it represented putting myself on the line, saying what I wanted to say without equivocating about an idea that is important to me. Perhaps it is best reflected in this excerpt from W. N. Murray's The Scottish Himalayan Expedition, written in 1951:

Until one is committedthere is hesitancy, the chance to draw back,always ineffectiveness.

Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation)there is one elementary truth,the ignorance of which kills countless ideasand splendid plans:that the moment one definitely commits oneself,then Providence moves too.All sorts of things occur to help onethat would otherwise never have occurred.A whole stream of events issues from the decision,raising in one's favor all mannerof unforeseen incidents and meetingsand material assistance,which no man could have dreamt . . .